What is a Bookmaker / Sportsbook?

Bookmaker (Betting shop) / Sportsbook is an organization or a person engaged in betting on various (usually sport) events with its customers. Talking simply, a person makes a bet at the bookmaker for a specific event (for example win one of the football teams), and if the selected team wins, it means - profit, otherwise – the bet loses.

Bookmakers take bets not only on sport events, but also on a number of political, intellectual, music and even television events. It can also be the weather stakes. Of course, events like the latter one are not very popular, but the odds on them usually are very high.

Most popular for betting to the players are football, hockey, basketball, tennis and other popular sports tournaments. Bookmakers analyze by themselves the demand for various events and games and then offer the appropriate bet. For single game bookmakers can offer more betting lines, for example: the number of goals scored in a match, the number of yellow cards, corners, penalty, red cards, and even more.

How a bookmaker makes his profit?

In fact, it doesn’t matter for the bookmaker if a customer wins or loses. In each odd bookie has its own interest margin.

Odd of a bookmaker is a specific number, based on the probability of occurrence of an event. Exactly this odd already includes bookmaker’s interest margin. Let's take an example: suppose that the probability of a particular event is 50%, and to determine the net odd you just need to divide 1/0.5 = 2.0. This can be called an odd.

But it is not profitable for the bookie. Therefore, as a rule, instead of the unit, bookmaker takes the value of not less than 0.9 (depending on the interest margin). The value 0.9 corresponds to a margin of 10%. This impact on the final odd: 0.9 / 0.5 = 1.8 instead of 2.0. It is not difficult to guess that the Bookmaker margin reduces the odd and, consequently, the profit of the player. Often the margin is less than 5%, and this is acceptable because the player can have a monthly income even with a 10% margin.

If we talk about bookmakers profit it can reach just a few % of the turnover, but these amounts can be significant. The low percentage of profit is due to the specifics of the bookies work, as well as the high costs of advertising and promotion.

How a player can make his profit?

In general, the payoff at the bookmaker is higher than in a casino or slot machines, which means that players usually make a profit from their bets, not just return a portion of funds invested.

Of course, there are situations when a player loses his bet. But if he bets on the event with a probability of at least 30%, then this will happen less frequently, especially if the player understands the sport and has some kind of insider information.

In the case where a lot of players bet on the same event, the bookmaker can reduce the odd to save himself from significant losses. But if the bet has been made, the bookmaker can’t change anything.

In order to get a stable income, the player has to be good not just in the particular sport, but also to have skills of working with mathematical formulas. Bookmaker offers the line (the schedule of events with odds, rates and other elements) based on the work of specially hired mathematical and statistical analysts. But there are more different ways to get a permanent income. For example, these are the services of professional forecasters and experts. Of course, this is not for free, but as you know, any job must be paid, especially if it is done properly and can bring you some profit. These services you can find also on our website in the topic with "Tips".

A Brief History of Bookmakers

Modern Bookmaker has its historical origin in the 19th century, when the Frenchman Pierre Oehler founded the first Bookmaker. It was a small point for betting on horse racing.

By the way, horse racing were popular hundreds of years ago. People willingly bet on any horse, though at these times the rules were slightly different.

In a short time a lot of bookmakers appeared in many European countries in the 19th century. Best example is the UK, which is currently the leader in a gambling activity. According to the law, any private company can engage in this business in UK.

In USA bookmakers have to go underground because of the ban on gambling activities in most states. Mafia and other criminal organizations were enriched at the expense of naive citizens. One more interesting fact is that in USA were invented cockroach races and people could make as well as the horse races in UK. Legal Bookmakers worked only in the State of Nevada - the gambling capital of America's business, where the famous Las Vegas is located.

Online Bookmakers

The Internet is deeply integrating into the various spheres of our society. Betting as part of the gaming industry is no exception in this rule. Customers can find a lot of very interesting bookmakers, who are constantly competing with each other in the internet network.

William Hill, Sportingbet, Bwin and a few large companies can be distinguished among the most popular bookmakers (the best bookies are presented in topic "Bookmakers Rating"). These companies are not just the sports betting bookmakers, but cover almost all types of gambling, including casinos and poker rooms.

The most interesting thing for new users will certainly be the variety of initial bonuses of different bookies. For example, it can be a free bet, when the player is given a small amount of money to bet, absolutely free, or 100% bonus on your first deposit. For a list of bonuses you can go here >>.

Today any customer can play through online bookmakers, because there is no difference with the offline ones. Saying even more, online bookies have various favorable factors, free bets, bonuses and other enjoyable things.